Football superstars Cristiano Ronaldo and Kylian Mbappe have joined forces with the likes of French president Emmanuel Macron to highlight the plight of the Amazon region, currently plagued by wildfires.

Football superstars Cristiano Ronaldo and Kylian Mbappe have joined forces with the likes of French president Emmanuel Macron to highlight the plight of the Amazon region, currently plagued by wildfires.

Five-time world player of the year Ronaldo beat Mr Macron to the punch with his tweet urging action on the Amazon that, by Friday morning, had already racked up more than a quarter-million likes.

Portugal international Ronaldo tweeted: “The Amazon Rainforest produces more than 20% of the world’s oxygen and it’s been burning for the past 3 weeks. It’s our responsibility to help to save our planet.”

Mr Macron’s tweet later was similarly urgent, saying “Our house is burning. Literally.”

Our house is burning. Literally. The Amazon rain forest - the lungs which produces 20% of our planet’s oxygen - is on fire. It is an international crisis. Members of the G7 Summit, let's discuss this emergency first order in two days! #ActForTheAmazonpic.twitter.com/dogOJj9big

Paris Saint-Germain’s Kylian Mbappe, a World Cup winner with France, tweeted a composite photo of rainforest in the shape of human lungs, lush and green on one side, consumed by flames on the other, and the words: “Pray for Amazonia.”

And from the world of tennis came a straight-to-the point tweet from top-ranked Novak Djokovic.

“Heartbreaking,” the winner of 16 majors wrote above a photo of forests aflame.

But beyond sports stars lamenting the Amazon’s pain to their global audiences, it wasn’t obvious what, if anything, Europe could immediately do about the situation.

Brazil was unlikely to ask for fire-fighting assistance, given how conservative Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has bristled over Mr Macron’s intervention.

The Brazilian leader accused Mr Macron of sensationalism and of seeking “personal political gains in an internal matter for Brazil and other Amazonian countries.”

Brazil contains about 60% of the Amazon rainforest.

Satellite images show smoke from the Amazon reaching across the Latin American continent to the Atlantic coast and Sao Paulo, Brazil's biggest city
Photo: Nasa/PA

Even if Amazon nations did seek help, amphibious planes widely used in Europe to dump water and retardants on wildfires do not have the range to cross the Atlantic Ocean, Colonel Gregory Allione, head of France’s national federation of firefighters, said.

Larger, land-based fire-fighting planes could only reach the Amazon from Europe via a circuitous route over Greenland, North and Central America, which “would take an eternity”, he said.

And European governments might not have much firefighting expertise and manpower to spare after another scorching European summer that saw record heatwaves and left many areas of Europe tinder-dry, another consequence of climate change.

“We’re already very busy,” Col Allione said.

“We’ve always had fires but now we have giant infernos.”

Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro (Eraldo Peres/AP)

Environmental campaigners said longer-term solutions were needed to preserve the Amazon.

Some have accused Mr Macron of hypocrisy, arguing that while he is adept at using Twitter to position himself as a champion for the planet, his domestic record on green issues is spotty at best.